Taking the contrarian perspective with your branding and marketing efforts is a creative way to get reader’s attention. It will work for all of your advertisements, websites, social media postings, articles or blog. While everyone else is blogging or writing articles on the same positive aspects of a topic, their work becomes part of the noise going out to potential customers. Everything begins to sound the same. Jargon, buzz words and catch phrases abound. The marketplace becomes immune to your same-old, same-old messages as you blend with everyone else.
Taking a contrarian perspective can jolt attention back to you. It can go a long way to make your message stand out. What if you take that same approach with your brand? While others are telling the world what they stand for, what if you take the approach of telling them what you are against… the other side of the story? Something new and unique. Something unlike anyone else has to offer.
The Contrarian Perspective
- We’re not the biggest or the oldest ‘X’ company, but our products/services are the best available in (our industry, or our region).
- We’re not interested in every customer, just those who appreciate our approach to ______.
If you are advocates for sustainability in design and furnishings try:
- We are against overloading landfills; we recycle all by-products of our plant operations.
- We are against destroying the rain forest; we use only furniture made from reclaimed wood.
- We are against homes that negatively affect the health of your family.
Do a quick online search of firms doing sustainable anything. They all tout their LEED credentials, membership in The U.S. Green Building Council, or other organizations. You will find lists of what they do to save the environment and valuable resources. The lists go on and on and on, and are all pretty much the same. Right? Think how much more impact a short, to the point, “we don’t……” or ” we’re against…” statement will make. It can make the same points, just from a different perspective.
Think about ways you can take a contrarian perspective to describe your company brand. This is not to say you shouldn’t take the same careful steps you take to develop a ‘positive’ brand. You don’t want to confuse your customer base and turn them away by being too negative. Be contrarian, but in a positive way. Stand out and become memorable by having a very specific perspective that differs from the crowd. You might find this article on the pros and cons of contrarian branding both interesting and useful.
